Title: The Girl of Ink & Stars
Author: Kiran Millweed Hargrave
Published by: Chicken House
Publication date: May 5th 2016
Format: Paperback
Source: Own copy (Amazon)
I was so excited to read this one.
I was hoping for magic and adventure, myths and legends, friendship and bravery.
And while a did get all of that (ish), there just wasn't enough of it.
Not enough magic by far.
I understand that this was kind of a magical-realism novel, but apparently that genre is just not for me.
They always leave me wanting so much more.
The plot was intriguing but ended up being a bit dull unfortunately.
We follow Isabella as she embarks on a dangerous journey to find her friend.
She travels through unknown territories, getting attacked by strange creatures and eventually finds out that the whole island is in danger of being destroyed.
I LOVED the idea of an ancient fire demon living under the island and how the stories and myths that Isabella loved so much seemed to be coming true.
But it fell flat.
(I hate the 'realism' part of magical-realism!)
I did enjoy the friendship between Isabella and Lupe though.
I thought it was sweet and fierce and they were just so lovely together!
And I'm glad there wasn't any romance featured in this story. I panicked that it would be for a second there, but it's all clear! *phew*
I also really enjoyed the cartography - the information given about it, the stories that were told, the design of the pages which featured beautiful cartography illustrations throughout, and both of the maps at the beginning and end of the book.
This book really is very pretty.
Cartography has always facinated me, so it was nice to see it featured in a book.
Unfortunately, I just felt like this book was lacking that special something.
It didn't ever grab me.
Some parts dragged.
It shouldn't have been as dull as it was.
I wanted more!
Title: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home
Author: Catherynne M. Valenta
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
Publication date: March 1st 2016
Format: Hardback
Source: Own copy (Amazon)
Oh Fairyland...
I shall be so sad to see you go!
I know you must, but it doesn't make saying goodbye any easier *sobs*
This whole series of books was so magical, whimsical, cosy and delightful!
"Let us take a great swaggering knife between us - it will take both our hands - and slice it open to see what we can see inside. For that is all a story is, my dears: a knife that cuts the world into pieces small enough to eat."
I'm so glad that this installment goes back to having September, Saturday, and Ell as the main characters.
While I enjoyed the previous book (The Boy Who Lost Fairyland), it just didn't thrill me as much as the other books have. I much prefer to have September as my adventuring partner while I run and skip through Fairyland, thank you very much.
Hawthorn and Tamburlaine do make great side-characters in this one though, if you loved them very much and are worried about missing them! So fear not!
This was probably my second favouite of the Fairyland series (with the first book coming in a solid first place long before the others have even started the race or even tied their shoes)
The plot was interesting and kept me glued to the page throughout.
I loved the idea of a race through Fairyland! It meant that we got to visit so many new places, meet wonderful new friends, and even meet up with old ones again for a spot of tea!
It was wonderful :)
I won't spoil the ending for you, but I thought it was quite delightful.
I don't think I could have asked for the series to have been ended in a better way!
I makes saying goodbye to all these lovely friends, who I've spent so much time with, that little bit easier.
"A thing is hardly real if no one's written about it. It's the writing that makes a thing proper and solid and true in the first place."
And who knows, maybe one day we'll find our way back to Fairyland once more?
Title: Frogkisser!
Author: Garth Nix
Published by: Piccadilly Press
Publication date: 28th February 2017
Format: Kindle
Source: ARC
This was such a magical, fun, romp of a book!It reminded me of the most wonderful Diana Wynne Jones (and she did receive an honourable mention at the end), and that can never be a bad thing!This book follows princess Anya and her trusty Royal dog Ardent as they embark on a quest to turn a frog back into a (kind of dumb) prince. But their quest somehow keeps managing to get bigger and bigger until Anya has taken on a whole host of other quests and promises too. I absolutely LOVED how many strong, awesome female characters there were in this book!First we have Anya herself, who starts out as a kind of typical selfish princess who would much rather stay home and curl up in the library all day rather than help people. (I would totally be this type of princess!)Yet as we go through the story she grows so much as a person and learns many valuable life lessons and ends up as a pretty damn awesome princess!We also have a female Good Wizard (sometimes complete with long, white beard), an evil female sorcerer, female members of The Seven Dwarves, a group of tricksy witches, a totally badass female Knight and many more!YAS!!The only problem I had with this book was that I wish our questing group had visited more places in this magical world. I did feel a bit disappointed that most (though not all) of the objects they were questing for were conveniently obtained in one place. I wanted them to have to have an adventure to get each one separately!I wanted MORE questing!But other than that small, kind of greedy complaint on my part, this was a very fun, magical read. I hope we get to see what happens to Anya and the kingdom of Trallonia next!
Title: There May Be a Castle
Author: Piers Torday
Published by: Quercus Children's Books
Publication date: 6th October 2016
Genres: Middle Grade, Children's Fiction
Format: Kindle
Source: Advanced reading copy from the publisher.
Amazon UK **Amazon US **Goodreads
It's Christmas.
And Mouse hates Christmas.
This Christmas is particularly awful because Mouse has to spend hours in the car with his older sister Violet, who's dressed as a pirate, and his baby sister Esme, who keeps shouting "Easta!" at the rapidly falling snow flakes.
But things take an unexpected turn when Mouse's mum looses control of the car in the snow after being hit by a flying dinosaur.
Mouse is thrown from the car and tumbles into a whole new (and scary) world. This world is filled with a whole host of fantastical characters such as a sarcastic one eyed horse called Nonky, a friendly sheep called Bar (because that's all she can say), a giant robotic dinosaur, a mildly irritating Minstrel who weirdly reminds Mouse of his Dad, and a terrifying Knight dressed in bright pink armour.
And of course, there may be a castle...
This book surprised me completely.
Its a story about the startling power of imagination and how we can achieve remarkable things if we just imagine that we can.
It's a story about love, family, and the staggering things we are able to endure in order to protect them.
It's a story about life and death.
It's a story you should read.
